There were so many recipe options dancing in my head to try this Mahbir Saffron but since my children and family love to try out Indian authentic sweets, I choose to prepare Khaja!

Khaja, favourite Indian sweet of mine since childhood, once a year our parents used to bring on the festival of Naag Panchami ( which comes around in August) Khaja, is a traditional and old age sweet dish of India and usually prepared during festival times such as Diwali, Holi or during a month of Ramadan and also offering as Prasad in many temples. Although Khaja is prepared all over India, every region has their own version of it and method of making various town to town and called with different names such as Chirote Khaja in Maharashtra (In Gujarat you can find round shape Chirote Khaja) where in South India you can find Madatha Khaja which are a diamond shape.

Since this recipe was on to do my list for a long time, I grabbed an opportunity to make at home, but with Saffron. Usually, Khaja is made without saffron or any kind of nuts. This recipe turned out exceptionally well and the saffron flavours made it tastier and richer in taste and look.

Notes - I prepared Khaja method two ways.You can make Khaja without saffron too.

Don't forget to sign up for email updates to get new recipes delivered right to your inbox. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. So follow us if you can...We would love to keep in touch with you all:)

In a big bowl add plain flour, ghee, salt and half of the saffron.
Mix everything well and prepare a pliable dough. ( Not too soft or hard )
Cover the dough with a clean wet kitchen towel for half an hour.
Once again knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and divide the dough into two equal parts.
Dust the flour on the work surface and roll the dough very very thin either round or square shape. ( I rolled into a square )
Sprinkle corn flour all over it.
Now start rolling it like a tight log, keep sprinkling a little cornflour in between.
Then cut it into 1/2" pieces.
Very lightly press the khaja pieces with your thumb or index finger.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a kadai.
Keep the heat very low.
Fry the prepared khaja until golden brown and crispy but cooked inside too. ( Be patient at this stage as it does take time to cook )
Once all the khaja are fried, make sugar syrup.
Place all the sugar syrup ingredients in a pan and let the sugar dissolve.
Once sugar dissolved bring the syrup to boiling point then simmer until the syrup reaches one thread consistency.
Then add fried khaja into the hot sugar syrup and let the syrup coat both the sides of khaja.
Keep the khaja about 2-3 minutes in the syrup then remove it, stick some edible silver and gold leaf (if using) and let the syrup dry.
Once the khaja are totally dried store in an airtight container.

Method 2
Once again knead the dough for 2-3 minutes and divide the dough into 5 equal parts and make balls.
Mix ghee and rice flour and make a paste.
Roll each ball into very thin round sheet.
Place one rolled chapati on the surface, brush a tiny amount of paste then place another sheet and again brush the ghee-flour paste.
Repeat the process with the rest of the sheets.
Then gently roll the sheets together into a tight log and cut it into 1/2" pieces.
Then follow the same procedure as above.

Those khajas are absolutely gorgeous. How pretty and flaky those khajas looks. Omg i cant take my eyes from your clicks. Seriously my mouth is watering here. With those saffron addition, am sure this khajas looks very rich and highly irresistible.

What a gorgeous post Jagruti. I also love to use Saffron in my dishes. Loved your click. These remind me famous khaja of Rajgir, Bihar. My mom usually made khaja with rice flour and ghee paste. You made me nostalgic. Awesome share.

Saffron is my favorite to add in Indian sweets and it can make any desert fell and taste royal. Lovely you get the samples of best Kashmiri saffron. The kesar khaja looks absolutely tempting and inviting.

The greatest good you can do for another, is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own.Disraeli

Thank you very much for visiting JCO, I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. Hope to see you again soon, have a great day!PLEASE NOTE THAT INCLUDING YOUR WEBSITE LINK IN THE COMMENT WILL RESULT IN YOUR COMMENT BEING DELETED. The new GDPR law states that whatever comments you leave on our blog will be viewed by everyone who visits JCO and your consent is given to the visitor to view your profile.